2 found slain in their homes, blocks apart on South Side

By Jeremy Gorner, William Lee and Rosemary R. SobolTribune reporters

Police making well-being checks found a man in his 70s and a recently retired grandmother slain in their homes less than two miles apart on the South Side -- but officials do not believe the killings are related.

Donald Ellens, 75, was found fatally stabbed at his home in the 9000 block of South East End Avenue in the Calumet Heights neighborhood just after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.

Officers responding to a request for a well-being check were met by Ellens' daughter, who said she had not talked to him in several days. She had come to the home and had tried to open the door but it was chained, according to a police report.

The daughter forced her way inside and found her father facedown on his bedroom floor, the report said. There were no signs of forced entry and nothing seemed out of place, according to the report. It appeared someone had tried to wipe the blood off the floor, the report said. A weapon was not found.

Ellens would have turned 76 on Sunday, according to his daughter Cherita Ellens. He had worked at Cook County Hospital as a nurse’s assistant for more than 30 years before retiring, she said. Ellens said her father enjoyed spending time with his neighbors and working on his lawn.

Just minutes before his body was discovered, Aletha McGee, 62, was found shot several times in the basement of her home a dozen blocks west in the 9000 block of South Dobson Avenue in the Burnside neighborhood, police said.

McGee was discovered after her son called police when he could not get her to come to the phone or to the door, according to a police report. Officers got inside through an unlocked back door and found her seated in a chair in an unlit area of the basement, according to the report. No weapon was recovered.

Police said a key was found broken off in the lock of a door outside her home, where she had lived for about 40 years. Her Ford Focus was missing from the garage.

Detectives could be seen walking in and out of the backyard of the single-story brick home as evidence technicians took photographs. A police command van was parked on the block near the home.

Family members said McGee -- a grandmother of six who retired from AT&T earlier this year -- was an active member of the Burnside Community Baptist Church, as well as the local Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy program.

News of the death shocked neighbors who said the block is comprised of families who have lived there for decades.

"I'm hurt. I'm very hurt because I just can't believe it," said Weader Ross, McGee's longtime neighbor. Ross told WGN-TV that McGee was a "beautiful person" who regularly brought her freshly picked vegetables.

In Ellens' neighborhood, Carrie Willis remembered him “like a brother’’ and said she last saw him on Sunday.

“He was sitting on the porch with a neighbor,’’ said Willis, 69. “He didn’t seem to be worried about anything.

“He was a very nice man,’’ Willis said, choking back tears. “He was like a brother, really, his kids and my daughter grew up together."

Ellens liked going to church and helped neighbors keep up their lawns. “He believed in keeping the yards up,’’ she said.

Willis said Ellens would join her and other neighbors for breakfast many mornings. “I was supposed to call him,’’ she said. “We had a breakfast date coming up.’’

Willis said Ellens was divorced and had three children.

Willis she learned of the slaying after her daughter, 42-year-old Tricia Willis, woke her up.

“My daughter ran in and told me Cherita found him in the house, so I got up and went outside and the police and detectives were there all night,’’ Willis said.

“I can hardly believe it,’’ she said. “I am scared and I put all the locks on last night and the alarm…I just can’t believe it. You hear about this on TV but somebody that you know…right across the street...this hits home real bad."

No one was in custody in either case.

Autopsies on both victims confirmed the suspected causes of death: Ellens died of multiple stab and incised wounds, while McGee died of multiple gunshot wounds. Both deaths were homicides, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

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